Tuesday 19 September 2006, by PowerNell. The government of Zanzibar was shocked to hear that power rationing is expended to the island. So far, Zanzibar was excluded from the load shedding, which has previously led to complaints of the public. Zanzibar and Tanzania are officially united in one state, the United Republic of Tanzania, but Zanzibar has retained its own president, a full set of ministries and its own assembly. However, it gets its power from the mainland. The Zanzibar Minister of Water said in a statement: "The government has not received official information about our inclusion in the power-rationing schedule. We just read about it in the media. We only inform the public after receiving official communication." The Zanzibar government is taking precautionary measures to ensure continued supply to hospitals and other essential services (source: The Guardian).

Poor Zanzibari

I guess it is pretty harsh for the Zanzibari to go from full power 24/7 to no daytime power at all. Poor souls! At least we on the mainland had an adjustment period: power has gone on and off from February. From July we had electricity day on day off, which was okay, and from end of August we had power two days a week, which was not okay, but it doesn"t make much difference with the current situation. It is just a small step from two to zero days...
Related article: The Guardian, Mwinyi Sadallah, 18 September, 2006: Extended power rationing "shocks" Zanzibar govt